Rivera and His Knights of the Realm
(El Monte)- Arroyo quarterback Steven Rivera set three school records in the Knights convincing 48-21 victory over the Temple City Rams in “The Mid Valley Classic” on Friday night at B.L. Bergstrom Stadium.
Arroyo Head Coach Jim Singiser was his usual self; “How can a team look this bad and still cause five turnovers?”
The long time coach of the Knights was speaking about his defense’s obvious inability to control the line of scrimmage early on.
On Rivera?
“I’m glad he did what he did,” said Singiser. “I’m glad he’s a Knight.”
What Rivera did was complete 30 of 42 passes for 451 yards and six touchdowns, both the yards and touchdowns are new school records. He also added 55 yards on the ground, 51 of them coming on a touchdown run with ten minutes to play in the fourth quarter. Add a 12-yard interception return and his total yardage was at 518 yards, another school record.
Not counting Arroyo’s final possession, which was just an exercise of the ‘victory formation, the Knights scored on seven of ten possessions, punted just twice, and had one drive crash after Rivera was picked off in the end zone.
“He’s entitled to one brain freeze in four years,” said Singiser of Rivera’s errant throw.
Hunter Duran caught 10 of Rivera’s passes for 227 yards and four touchdowns, to bring his career totals to 36 catches and 15 touchdowns.
Running back Peter Aholoka, who rushed for 66 yards on 12-carries, caught a 15-yard pass from Rivera for the game’s first score.
TC answered back as quarterback Mikal Quintanilla used his talented feet and rapidly maturing arm to engineer a quick strike with a 48-yard touchdown pass.
It began a theme of the night, Temple City could score…they just couldn’t score as fast or find a way to stop Arroyo.
Following Rivera’s interception, the Rams went on an 8-play drive that took them 60 yards down the field. Runners Jamie Dea and Roger Tsung were gaining six and eight yard chunks of ground behind an offensive line literally blowing the Knights off the line of scrimmage.
However, it was on a 14-yard run that Dea lost the ball and Rivera took advantage.
Eighty yards, nine plays, and Rivera went 20-yards to Duran for a 14-7 lead. Four minutes later Rivera went 6-yards to Eddie Federico and it was 21-7 with 2:35 to play in the half.
Quintanilla again used his feet and arm to lead the Rams 71 yards for a late score. Tsung capped the drive, highlighted by a 20-yard screen pass to Dea, with a 1-yard run.
With a 1:09 still fat on the first half clock, Rivera went 17-yards to Duran on third and 10 from his own 35. Then 6-yards to Brandon Jauregui and, following a pass interference penalty, to Duran, on a crossing route, who carried the rest of the way for a 28-14 Knights lead.
In the second half Rivera found Duran again for a 22-yard score after a TC turnover and it was 34-14 Arroyo.
The Rams pieced together a 90 yard drive late in the third and scored on a 3-yard run by Tsung with 11-minutes to play in the fourth quarter.
Any thoughts of a comeback ended three plays after the kick-off when Rivera went 51-yards on a keeper to make it 41-21.
With 3:05 to play Rivera and Duran hooked up for the fourth time for a 46-yard score and the record books.
The yardage gave Rivera 451 yards through the air breaking the old mark of 414 set by Gabriel Agredano against Anaheim in 1993.
The touchdown was his sixth, breaking the school record of five shared by Glen Johnson (1968 vs. Los Altos), Gabriel Agredano (1993 vs. Gahr), and Dominic Salmon (2005 vs. Mt. View) and himself (2010 vs. Mt. View).
He also broke Agredano’s all purpose yardage record of 447 (set in 1993 against Anaheim) with 518 yards.
“I’m glad he’s a Knight,” said Singiser. “But we’ve got a lot to yell about. Quintanilla killed us with his feet, we had no contain, when he came out with the ball there was no one there to stop him. Film is not going to be pleasant.”
Arroyo, 2-0, gets Montebello next week, while Temple City, 0-1, hosts Alhambra at home next Thursday.
Loading ...
hater
Please lay off this kid rivera***.
Don’t write about him till he wins a CIF game forreals.
Been 3 years with a horrible post season.
Arroyo should go back to their all black home jerseys and helmets, I remember the 2004 team looked scary in those things.
KnightStalker, Arroyo Supporters,
It would have been easy to come on the blog and lay some low blows on the TC program, after such a convincing win. Even the comments here on the “sweep” were done without any real insult or tone. Damn, even the carne asada tacos were good…a clean win and no trash talking after…I can’t help but wish good luck to the Knights for the balance of the season.
As far as the game, it was a contest early – but without a pass rush, little penetration and a secondary on their heels – trouble was guaranteed for TC. The Rams O-line was a bright spot, blowing open huge holes and anchoring a 90 yard and 76 yard drive, primarily with Dea carrying the ball. As I have said since hell week, we do not have breakaway speed anywhere in the backfield and this is a problem. Simongunsong, Ruckle or Do would have easily TD’ a few of the runs that netted 20 yards against Arroyo. One man to beat…and we get tackled. This is no insult to any Ram as Dea hit the hole hard and fought for yards….it is just a fact that team speed is lacking on this year’s squad.(As it often is at TC)
Rivera was well protected and consistently chose the right receiver. Often it was Hunter Duran, not a large target, but an excellent reciever nonetheless. The post route TD thrown into the southern end zone was Riviera’s best throw of the night, perfectly in stride and letter high. The TC defender was only a step behind, it took a good throw to make it happen.
There were bright spots for the Rams and I am confident our coaches will shore up the defense and we will improve. To those TC fans who left the game early saying crap like “it is going to be a long season”….you guys truly suck in not supporting the kids, win or lose. Come RHL start, this team will be fine.
Congrats on a good win Arroyo.
@drex
you can’t count the last 2 years cause the coaching staff there took the program and team down. I guess we will just have to wait and see what the year in football brings us. It’s excepted for people the doubt the south. We live off the motto. Don’t doubt the south. Yes a win is a win but to win with a new coach and coming off those horrible last 2 years. It’s a well deserved win.
Way to early to tell who has what for week 11. Congrats to SEM on picking up the win. Congrats to MV for rebounding after last week. Congrats to Arroyo for sweeping Temple City. 550 yds of offense and causing 5 turnovers is a heck of a night. Lots of work to do ahead, though. As for the ‘Mead… Trust me they will be fine. Gotta get back to Panther football and take care of the rock and they will be fine. Good luck to all the athletes on a healthy and successful 2011.
South will struggle again this year. They just beat a Ganesha team that is not good. If I were south I would not be talking.
If you looked at the teams they drew then you’d know. La Habra (4 time consecutive CIF Champ), Whittier Christian (Semis), San Dimas (Semis). In the last two years arroyo only lost to WC and SD by a total of 10 points so its not like they got blown out. As I recall south el monte was blown out completely last year and all of their losses weren’t even in the single digits. Arroyo and Rosemead have made it to CIF a lot more times than south has, south had two good years and that was it. South beats a very weak Ganesha team and now they think they are going to be able to compete for a MVL title? the eagles first need to get past view and gabby. And with el monte’s talent returning I know south wont be able to pull off a #3 spot.
@Drex
Then tell me why arroyo is always 1 and done in the playoffs. If they were that great they would at least make it into the 2 round or beyond that.
Congrats to Arroyo Football for sweeping Temple City on all levels.
Frosh AHS 44 TC 0
JV AHS 22 TC 0
Var. AHS 48 TC 21
@Sem,
South is going to be challenging anyone for anything any time soon. Arroyo will win the MVL title and then its up to RHS, EM, and Gabby to battle it out for the #2 spot. With the exception of HART HS, i don’t see arroyo losing to anyone during the regular season. Is arroyo the best team in the Mid Valley Div.? No. Is arroyo an elite team in the Division? you bet.
yeah hes a player but who does arroyo really play sub par under .500 teams.. go to play offs then one and done
South El Monte looked really good yestrday. A 40-7 win over Ganesha. Lots of new faces on the field. Guess having a good coach and having someone care about the program brings those kids out.
Good job knights. Maybe this will be the year that all teams compete for a leauge championship. Tired of blow outs. Let’s see some hard smash mouth football this season in leauge.
Rosemead looked bad yesterday. They look to be down this year.
Sweet…. I agee with Coach .I am glad he is a Knight. Lets keep him healthy and good things will happen in 2011 for the ARROYO KNIGHTS.
this kid is good and has been that way for 4 yrs!, although, i follow Rosemead High, i like to watch him play
451 passing yards and 6 Tds? Wow, what a performance!